A Bad Day
by erdi99
Summary: Steph's days doesn't go as planned. This contains Bolognese sauce, a car accident and an admition of love


**Steph's POV**

I stop with screeching tires in front my parents' house. My mom is already waiting in front of the house for me.

Today started off badly and it has yet to get better. I got up too late, because my alarm clock didn't work. Then I discovered the hard way that I had no hot water in my apartment and my hair didn't want to be tamed. To top it all off my fridge broke overnight and all my food was warm and my ben &amp; jerry's in the freezer melted.

* * *

"Mom…I am perfectly able to fend for myself" I sigh as my mother wraps up yet another dish with food. If she keeps going, I won't have any room in my car to transport it all.

"We will be gone for two weeks. I froze some Lasagna and Casseroles, you just have to come and get them." My mother informs me and pushes a big pot with sauce into my hands. "Here…that is for tomorrow. You can freeze the rest and heat it up later. You only have to cook the noodles…you can do that without burning down your building, right?"

"MOM…stop…this is enough food to feed everybody at Rangemen and three times over" I sigh and look into the pot. _Yumm…my mom's homemade pasta sauce._

"Okay…okay…I just want to make sure you have enough food." She tells me, as we walk outside to my car. The trunk is filled with casserole dishes and takeaway boxes.

"I can always get take out…you didn't need to cook up a storm, just because you are going on holiday." I tell her and place the pot on the passenger seat.

"I did it anyways. Your grandmother is staying with Val and will get enough food. You on the other hand, I worry about. I don't want you living of fast food and Pino's" My mother replies and then surprises me by giving me a hug.

This is the first time in I think 15 years, that my parents are going on holiday. It is their 40th anniversary and my dad booked them a Caribbean cruise, that will last 14 days.

Since I gave up working for Vinnie, she drinks less and has been a lot nicer to me. "Alright mom…I gotta go. Have fun on your cruise." I tell her and give my Dad, who is standing on the top step in front of our house, a finger wave.

I glance at the clock in my POS car and sigh. I will barely make it on time for my shift. I got monitor duty this morning, because I am doing Woody a favor. He took his wife out of town on the weekend and they didn't come back until 3 am this morning, so he asked if I could jump in. Thankfully Les is assigned to monitor duty as well and I am curious to find out what he did to piss Ranger off this time.

The Boss man himself is tight lipped about it and so is Tank. I am fully prepared to pester Les with questions tonight. That will at least keep me busy and help me not to fall asleep. I hate monitor duty just as much as surveillance. Sitting still isn't my strong point.

I start my car and point it towards the edge of Trenton. Metallica is blasting out of the speakers and my thoughts drift to the man of mystery.

Since I started working for him, there has been nothing between us. He drew back to the point, where we only exchange a few words a day _(not that he talks much more anyways_) and those few words are usually about work. I can't make sense of his behavior and have long stopped to analyze it.

Joe and I finally put an end to our on and off status and called it quits, before he became the head of a special unit in New York. As we parted ways Joe provided me with food for thought.

"_What do you want from life? Are you sure that your reluctance to get married wasn't about me? Go after what you want cupcake, even if that means going after Manoso…you aren't getting any younger!"_

After I got over the fact that he basically called me old, I thought long and hard about what I wanted. I want Ranger and I want to be free.

So I made a deal with Tank, since the man himself was in the wind at the time. I would do the office work, get to predict my own office hours and start training. _Surprise, surprise _...more often than not I find myself at work at 7.00 am, on my own free will.

The first time I came in that early, I shocked the hell out of Tank. His face was priceless.

Connie, Lula and I are currently all single and we have enjoyed it so far. The girls and I went out almost every weekend in the past half a year and have shopped until we dropped. My closet can't take much more and I am thinking of buying another closet for the Living room, to accommodate all my clothes. Even my sister has joined us on a few occasions.

Some of the stuff I bought may have been with Ranger in the back of my mind, but I would never admit that out loud.

The driver behind me pushes his horn and brings me out of my own thoughts. I discover that the light has already turned green and I am holding up traffic. I flip the person behind me off and drive on.

Suddenly there is another loud HONK and as I turn my head, I can see a Truck coming towards me on my passenger side.

After that everything just seems to happen in slow motion, but I am sure in real time it happened within seconds. The truck hits me, making the sauce pot on the passenger side fly through the air, spilling its contents everywhere.

I end up soaked from head to toe in sauce, wedged in between the truck and an electricity pole on the other side of the intersection.

With a sigh I let my head sink against the headrest. 6 months without an incident and this is what happens. Thankfully Ranger is not here to see me.

Just as I think that this day cannot possibly get any worse, I am wrong. The driver of the truck has yet to take his food of the accelerator and he keeps pushing me into the pole. The pole suddenly snaps in half and comes crashing down onto my car, with the wires hanging off to the side.

What makes matters worse is that just now I realize that I hit a fire hydrant with the back of the car and it's raining water down on the area. There is no chance for me to get out of the car, without being electrocuted.

Thankfully my parents are out of Town by now, so my mother won't find out about this until after her holiday.

* * *

**Ranger's POV**

I look onto my phone with a frown and then back to CCTV footage from the garage. Her car is absent and I know for a fact that she hasn't come in on foot. I ought to know because I have been watching the cameras for the past two hours.

I do this every day and I really should feel guilty or like a stalker, but I don't. I wanted to give her some space after her break up with Joe. And as she started working here, I wanted to keep it professional between us.

Well I was an idiot, for thinking that staying away from her would be easy. I can smell her perfume everywhere in this god damn building and when she laughs it travels across the whole 5th floor, making me hard instantly.

I miss her and it is my own fault. I once told her that if Joe was out of her bed long enough I would step in, but fear is holding me back. Fear of letting her in, that she will discover every ugly side of me and leave me.

I need her like air to breathe. She makes my world a little less dark.

So I find myself watching her come in every morning and she is like clockwork. She comes in at 7 am, goes to the break room for a big mug of coffee, before going into her office, only to reappear in the break room 15 minutes later for a re-fill.

Except for this morning. She told me she would be here the latest at 9 am. Babe wanted to see her parents before they left for their vacation. It's is now 8.45 and she still hasn't come in. I know it is still 15 minutes short of the time she told me, but I have a bad feeling in my gut and with every minute goes by, that feeling intensifies.

I get up, pocket my phone and stride into the monitor room. "Pull up Steph's trackers." I bark at my cousin. He does as he is told and rattles of the Address, which I memorize.

"Want me to alert everybody?" He questions and looks at me.

"No, I will check it out first…could be nothing" But we both know, with Steph it's never just nothing. It is always something. I run down the stairs to the garage and jump into my Cayenne.

Traffic is going slow close to Steph's location and I make the quick decision to just use the footpath. As I pull up at the intersection, I spot Emergency services and Police. My stomach instantly plummets and my heart rate sky rockets, like every time my Babe finds herself in a bad situation.

"You can't go any closer" Eddie Gazzara warns me, as he steps in front of me. Not many people dare to do so.

"Move" I growl. He flinches but stays put, which makes him either incredibly stupid or brave.

"You can't go any closer. She is trapped under a live wire. We only got the water turned off a couple of minutes ago." Eddie explains.

"Dios" I mutter. "Is she injured?"

"We don't know" Eddie answers. "We can't even get to the guy in the truck."

My phone rings and I pick it up without looking at the caller ID. "YO"

"What happened?" My second in command and best friend questions.

"Car accident. She is trapped under a live wire" I report. "Send Brown down here. I want her checked out, when they get her out."

Tank hangs up on me without another word and I know that not before long half of Rangemen Trenton will be here, to make sure their girl is alright.

I press number one on my speed dial and wait for my Babe to pick up.

"Yo" Her sweet voice rings through the speaker, after the third ring.

"How is your morning going?" _Where the heck did that come from?_

"Ahh you know…like usual." She says and I can hear the smile in her voice. "How is your morning going?"

"Not at all like every morning. This woman who works for me is late for her shift" I say mockingly annoyed.

"Ah Yeah? Are you going to order her to the mats?" My babe questions, making me smile in return.

"Probably not…throwing fluff balls around isn't really my style" I reply, letting her know that I know about the silliness, she and Hector engaged in the other morning.

She gasps and takes a moment to answer. "If you did, the guys would probably get you committed."

"And take my man card away" I say, making her laugh. "Babe?"

"I am okay, Ranger" She sighs. Babe always insists that she doesn't have what she calls ESP, but she can read me better than anyone else.

"We will get you out of there as soon as possible" I assure her.

"I know" She says without missing a beat. "You always do."

"And then you and I have to have a talk" I inform her, making up my mind. I need to tell her, I can't stay away from her any longer. The last six months have been hell and I suppose having little time with her is better than none at all.

"Oh…what about?" Steph inquires.

I take a deep breath and look around. My men have just arrived and the Firemen are trying to work out the best way to get to the truck. "Can't tell you…too many ears around."

"You gotta hate these accidents…can't get a moment of piece and silence and you are never alone" She laughs dryly.

"What's the Sit-Rep?" Bobby questions as he gets closer.

"Live wire, she said she is okay." I inform him and then say into the phone "Babe, I will hand you over to Bobby"

* * *

**Steph's POV**

I wasn't surprised as my phone rang, because I felt that tingle on the back of my neck, which told me that Ranger is near. I am happy that he called, trying to take my mind of the situation on hand.

"Bomber?" Bobby says as he comes on the line.

"I am here" I reply and rest my head onto the head rest again.

"How are you feeling? Are you injured?" Bobby questions with concern in his voice.

"No, I am good." I inform him and seconds later Ranger comes back onto the phone. My Merry men really need get taught some phone manners.

"Are you still there Babe?" He asks, making me roll my eyes.

"Yes and I am not going anywhere, since I really wasn't planning on dying of an electric shock today" I snap. "Sorry…my nerves are a little raw." I ad quickly.

"Babe" He only says.

"Oh we are back to one word sentences again?…and here I thought today would be a Ranger word count Record day" I snap.

I have been in this car for the past 45 minutes and I am getting antsy. I was never good at sitting still, not as a small child and definitely not in my adult life.

"You want me to talk?" Ranger questions and I roll my eyes again. He sounds amused.

_Duh…stupid. I am in a confined space and my only choice of entertainment is talking to you or playing Candy crush_. _But playing Candy crush is only slightly more frustrating than talking to you, so I will stick to talking._

"Babe" Ranger chuckles making my insides melt. _Oh I hate when he does this. One minute I am mad at him, the next he does something like smile and I forget all about being mad. _"Giving information to the enemy, Babe."

"Tell me why Les is on monitor duty" I quickly change the subject. If he is talking, the chance of me saying something out loud that I didn't mean to tell him, are next to zero.

"Why does that interest you so much?" Ranger questions.

"Because you and Tank are staying tight lipped about it and no one else knows what your cousin did to piss you off this time. Which peaks my interest" I reply honestly. "Plus Lester getting into trouble is always funny. And I could really use something to laugh about right now."

* * *

**Ranger's POV**

I groan inwardly. Of course she is curious about this. She asked me a couple of times before, until I gave her my best mean stare and she backed off.

I look around and walk away from the crowd a little. "It really isn't a funny story…so let's talk about something else."

"Uhh No…I don't care if it is funny not…spill" She orders.

"He called me out on my shit." I find myself telling her.

"What shit?" She probes further.

"My feelings for you" I reply honestly.

_Flash back_

"_You love her, just admit it already and make her yours" My cousin yells me._

"_Butt out Santos" I growl and look at him, with a stare that would have had everybody else running away from me, but Les knows me too well for that and isn't scared of me. This isn't the first time that we are having this conversation. Every few weeks he brings it up again and I am close to ordering him to the mats._

"_I will ask her out, since you are too much of a chicken to do so…in fact I will ask her right now." Les draws his phone out of his pockets and starts dialing. I quickly move around my desk and snatch his phone out of his hands._

"_I thought so" He mutters with a smuck expression and as I glance on his phone I realize he never dialed her. "You can't stand her being with someone else, but are too scared."_

"_What the fuck?" I bark and seconds later my office door flies open and Tank strides into the room._

"_What is going on here?" He barks, looking from Les to me and back._

"_Just trying to make Ric see that he loves Steph and needs to do something about it…" My cousin replies. "As she was still with the cop, you were after her, but now that she is free of him you draw back. If you don't want her anymore just say so. Set her free and let someone else take over. I know at least a dozen guys, including myself, who are willing to make her happy."_

_I shoot Les another glare, but he only shrugs his shoulders. "I told you to butt out, Santos…Monitor duty for the foreseeable future."_

"_If that's what I get for making you see reason, I will gladly take it." He answers. "You are an idiot, primo." He adds and walks out of my office. Tank follows him and silently closes the door, leaving me alone with me thoughts._

_I wished my cousin wasn't right. I can't stand the thought of her being with someone else. I want her. I need her._

_End of flashback_

"What feelings?" Babe asks and I can hear in her voice that she is holding a breath.

"Well there is that feeling of friendship, that feeling of happiness when you are near and the feeling of being in love with you" I answer honestly.

Babe stays silent for quite a while, making me check my phone if she didn't disconnect.

"RANGER" Tank shouts from across the road and signals that they cut of the electricity. Fire services immediately remove the Truck driver, who looks dead to me, from the cabin, before backing up the truck.

I hang up the phone and quickly run over to Babe's car.

* * *

**Steph's POV**

_He loves me…He loves me_. I have been waiting for these words and I can't manage to form any words in shock. I thought I'd never hear them, without qualifiers.

Suddenly everything feels dizzy and hazy. I barely recognize the passenger door opening, before I smell Bulgari and I know in that moment Ranger saved me once again.

"Babe?...Ba…" I hear his voice, but it is fading and I can't seem to answer him. I want to tell him that I love him too, but the words just simply won't come out of my mouth.

* * *

_Beep_

_Beep_

_Beep_

_Great…I am at the hospital. _Is the first thought that goes through my head, as I wake up.

My eyes fly open and I find Ranger sitting next to my bed, with some Paperwork on his lap. "Hey" I croak.

"Hey" Ranger smiles at me and puts the papers on my bedside table. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was in an accident." I reply.

"You gave us quite a scare. Why didn't you tell me you were injured?" He questions softly and locks my fingers with his.

"Injured? I wasn't injured" I exclaim and want to sit up, but he pushes me gently back into the Pillow.

"Your leg was bleeding. You lost quite a bit of blood, but the Doctors were able to repair it all. You got another nice scar to show off." Ranger informs me and lifts the blanket to show me my right leg, which is wrapped up with a white bandage. "A Piece of your car got loose and screwed itself into your leg. A piece which shouldn't have come off, would you be driving a brand new car."

"No lectures please" I whine and he just grins at me, as he leans in a little.

"I make you a deal" He says softly.

"Go on" I tell him and make a rotating motion with my left hand.

"I will stop talking about your POS car and you will, from now on, drive one of the fleet cars. At least that will make me sleep better at night, knowing you are save" He says and the tone of his voice tells me that he doesn't want to be argued with.

"You can be glad I am so hyped up on painkillers, or I would negotiate with you" I point out, earning me a 200 Watt smile.

"I was banking on that" He tells me, before claiming my lips. He seems different, _dare I say happier?_

"So you love me, huh?" I question as he pulls away again.

"Yes I do. Even though you smell like you showered in Bolognese sauce" Ranger replies with a small smile and runs his thump back and forth on the back of my hand.

"I have smelled like worse…this doesn't even make it in my top 50 bad smell list" I exclaim and close my eyes, for a moment. "Oh…wait…I love you too." I add quickly with a smile, before his lips come crashing down on me again. I can't believe that wasn't the first thing that came out of my mouth as I woke up.

* * *

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